Milan Ressel

Milan Ressel (1 December 1934, Ostrava - 16 July 2020, Prague) was a Czech painter, printmaker, illustrator and restorer.

Life
Milan Ressel was the son of Alfred Ressel, a Czechoslovak army officer who fled with his entire family to England via Hungary, Yugoslavia and France under dramatic circumstances at the turn of 1939/1940. As a major general, he commanded the artillery of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps in the Soviet Union since 1944. Milan's older brother Fred enlisted in the British Army in 1944 and took part in the siege of Dunkirk. After the war the family returned to Czechoslovakia. His father was discharged from the army in the early 1950s and worked for a year and a half in the coal mines in Ostrava, then in Prague car repair shops and in an advertising company.

As a young boy Milan Ressel experienced the heavy bombing of London at the turn of 1940–1941, and his wartime experiences and his personal acquaintance with English literature for the young later influenced his work. After returning to Prague, he studied at the Higher School of Arts and Crafts in Prague (1949-1953) and from 1953 to 1959 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague with prof. Miloslav Holý, Karel Minář, Karel Souček. His friends included Karel Nepraš, Bedřich Dlouhý, Jaroslav Vožniak and Theodor Pištěk. He was a founding member and first goalkeeper of the Paleta vlasti hockey club and a member of the Association of Prague Painters. Since the 1970s, he has been a freelance artist, comic book creator, illustrator, graphic designer and mural restorer.

Milan Ressel lived and worked in Prague and Středokluky near Prague.

Work
In the 1960s, he belonged to the circle of artists who devoted themselves to informel, and his free work was influenced by his friendship with artists from the Šmidra group (Koblasa, Nepraš, Dlouhý, Vožniak). The search for the artist's distinctive style was shaped between an inclination towards classical painting and the need to experiment. His abstract paintings from 1965 to 1966 contain hints of real objects and do not lose touch with the sensory world.

In the second half of the 1960s he devoted himself almost exclusively to drawing. From smaller formats, he gradually worked his way up to monumental compositions. His utopian illustrations, which are close in content to Ray Bradbury's science fiction, are based on rational reflections on the real prospects of civilization and on the artist's sheer imagination.

Restoration work (selection)

 * Painted ceilings, Martinic Palace in Prague
 * Fresco paintings of the Great Hall, Lobkowicz Palace at Prague Castle
 * Frescoes by Mikoláš Aleš at the Štorch House in Prague

Illustrations (selection)

 * Ludvík Souček, The Interest of the Galaxy, Mladá fronta, Prague 1973
 * Vlastislav Toman / Milan Ressel, The Adventures of Thuvia of Ptarh, based on E. R. Burroughs, follows The Adventures of John Carter, ABC magazine 1-24/XV,
 * Jules Verne, The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz, Mladá fronta, Prague 1985
 * Svatopluk Hrnčíř, Země Zet, comics, Book Business Club 1990

Representation in collections

 * National Gallery in Prague
 * Aleš South Bohemian Gallery in Hluboká nad Vltavou
 * Art Gallery Karlovy Vary
 * Gallery of Modern Art in Hradec Králové
 * Rabas Gallery, Rakovník
 * Arturo Schwarz Gallery, Milano
 * private collections at home and abroad

Exhibitions

 * 1970 Moravian Museum Brno
 * 1971 Milan Ressel, Havířov City Gallery, Krnov City Museum
 * 1972 Mladá fronta Gallery Prague
 * 1979 Šumperk Municipal Theatre
 * 1980 Exhibition Hall of the Bruntál Castle (with V. Svoboda)
 * 1983 Groll Gallery, Nuremberg
 * 1988/1989 Milan Ressel: Paintings, drawings, Vincenc Kramář Gallery, Prague
 * 1993 Milan Ressel: drawings, graphics, Galerie Chagall, Ostrava
 * 1994 Hotel Spiritka Prague, S. Agostino Monastery, Pietrasanta
 * 1996 Milan Ressel: Paintings, Drawings, Hluboká nad Vltavou Castle
 * 1998 Milan Ressel: BIG MAC and other paintings and drawings, Municipal Gallery Art Club, Týn nad Vltavou
 * 2000 Milan Ressel: Paintings, Liběchov Chateau
 * 2005 Milan Ressel: Private labyrinths/paintings, drawings, prints, Nostic Palace, Prague
 * 2011/2012 Milan Ressel: Something Changes, Something Remains..., Wortner House of the Aleš South Bohemian Gallery, České Budějovice
 * 2012/2013 Milan Ressel, Rabas Gallery, Exhibition Hall under the High Gate, Rakovník
 * 2015 Milan Ressel, Eighty. We and You, Millennium Gallery Prague

Catalogues

 * Milan Ressel, 1970, Grůza Antonín, cat. 4 p., Krnov Museum
 * Milan Ressel: Paintings, Drawings, 1988, Kříž Jan, cat. 12 p., SČVU Praha
 * Milan Ressel: Paintings, drawings, 1996, Tetiva Vlastimil, cat. 48 p., Alšova jihočeská galerie v Hluboká nad Vltavou
 * Milan Ressel: Private Labyrinths: Paintings, Drawings, Prints, 2005, Koenigsmark Alex, Tetiva Vlastimil, cat. 36 p., VIVO, publishing house and gallery, Prague
 * Milan Ressel, 2012, cat. 16 p., Rabas Gallery Rakovník